Performance in WinBench 99

You can first take a look at data-transfer graphs. The lower and longer the straight section of the graph goes, the worse the enclosure’s controller efficiency is. The speed of the hard drive will be greatly limited in such an enclosure and it won’t be able to deliver its full performance.

• AgeStar ICB5A FireWire (graph)
• AgeStar ICB5A USB 2.0 (graph)
• AgeStar ICB5A1 FireWire (graph)
• AgeStar ICB5A1 USB 2.0 (graph)
• AgeStar CFB3A1 SATA (graph)
• STLab S-150 USB 2.0 (graph)
• Tsunami Speed 3500S USB 2.0/PATA (graph)
• Tsunami Speed 3500S USB 2.0/SATA (graph)
• Tsunami Speed 3500 USB 2.0 (graph)
• Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU-BK USB 2.0 (graph)
• Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU-BK eSATA (graph)
• Vantec NexStar3 NST-360U2-RD USB 2.0 (graph)
• ViPowER VPA-35018 USB 2.0 (graph)

As you can see from these graphs, the maximum read speed is achieved with SATA and eSATA interfaces that have the least limiting impact on the drive performance. The next most efficient interface is FireWire. USB 2.0 limits the data-transfer rate the most.

Then we tested the drives formatted in FAT32. All the results, except for the data-transfer speed and the access time, were achieved by testing a 32GB partition created on the drives. And a few more words about the abbreviations used: U2 stands for USB 2.0, FW for FireWire, SA for SATA, and ES for eSATA. Besides that, the letters P and S after “U2/” mean that the PATA or the SATA drive, respectively, was installed into the enclosure.

There are two enclosures that are head above their opponents in efficiency. The reason is obvious: these two make use of SATA and eSATA interfaces. The Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU is the more efficient of the two and is superior to the AgeStar CFB3A1 in both the scores. The two enclosures with a FireWire interface - AgeStar ICB5A and ICB5A1 – are their closest pursuers. Among the USB 2.0-using devices the ViPowER VPA-35018 and the Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU are best. The AgeStar ICB5A is the slowest of all when connected via USB 2.0.